Never Underestimate Elle Greenaway
by Longing for Oblivion
Summary: After Hotch takes Elle home when she gets injured during a case Elle decides to have some fun on his expense and things get a little heated... Edited & Reposted!
1. When the worry returns

_**Discs.:**__ I don't own anything you recognize from Criminal Minds!  
__**Summary:**__ After Hotch takes Elle home when she gets injured during a case Elle decides to have some fun on his expense and things get a little heated...  
__**Pairing:**__ Elle/Hotch, mentions Hotch/Haley  
__**Genres:**__ Romance, Humor  
__**Spoilers:**__ mentions "The Fisher King" Part 1&2, "Aftermath" and "Boogeyman" and some things from later episodes, such as Gideon leaving, Rossi joining the team and Haley leaving Hotch_  
_**Warnings:**__ contains sexuality  
__**A/N:**__ This is actually already an older story, which I decided to delete and repost after editing it slightly... Anyways, have fun reading!_

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**Never Underestimate Elle Greenaway**

_1. When the worry returns_

As Hotch waited for the elevator to reach their floor he watched Elle carefully. If it had been up to him she would have stayed at the hospital for observation, or he would have at least brought her home right away, but of course he knew that his chances to lower her protests to a minimum were that much better, if he let her get at least her stuff from the office.

"You know that I can work, right?" Elle broke the silence between them once more.

He let out a sigh, knowing that they were about to have the same conversation for the twentieth time all over again.

"You heard what the doctor said - you need rest, otherwise you can't work tomorrow. But then again it would serve you probably well if you stayed at home for the rest of the week anyways." Hotch tried, earning himself an angry glare from his co-worker.

"I'm fine! Or I would be if you gave me for once a break from trying to keep me from working!" Elle snapped lowly at him in response just as the doors of the elevator were finally opening on their floor.

Hotch simply shook his head for a moment, stepping out of the elevator, before he stated,

"Well, you should certainly try to get that temper of yours under control or I'll make sure that you'll stay home for longer than just today."

At that Elle tensed and all but stared at him in disbelief. After a moment Hotch stretched out his left hand to keep the doors from closing and asked,

"You're comin'?"

Elle remained silent though she finally moved and hurried to the bullpen. Hotch waited for a moment to think about how to proceed now before he decided to get his stuff out of his office and have a word with Rossi.

After he had finished talking with Rossi he went to meet up with JJ to make a few last arrangements.

When he spotted the blonde agent in the break-room he hurried over to talk with her.

"Hey JJ."

She turned toward him a smile on her lips, and stated,

"I assume you're gonna bring Elle home now?"

"Yeah. Give me a call if you find a lead."

"Sure. So, what did the doctor really say?"

Hotch couldn't help but shake his head hearing that.

"She has a concussion and is supposed to get a lot of rest, so I'll stay for a while to make sure that she really gets some."

Turning around to leave Hotch frowned and a heavy sigh escaped his mouth.

"You don't happen to know where she has gone, do you?"

"Well, she wanted to say goodbye to Morgan who should be currently in Garcia's office."

"Thanks."

He should have seen this coming, after all, he should have known that Elle won't make it easy for him to get her home, but this? Why did some of his colleagues have to act at times like they were little kids all over again in the first place?

Entering Garcia's office Hotch let his shoulders hang and asked slightly annoyed,

"Where is she?"

Morgan turned around, a bit of a grin on his face.

"She just left about two minutes ago, dunno where she went."

"Thanks." Hotch forced himself to say and left.

He was most definitely losing his patience so he decided to simply call her cell to figure out where she had gone.

"What is taking you so long?" Elle asked as she answered the call.

"Well, it would certainly take me less time if you'd simply tell me where you're hiding."

"Hiding?" Elle asked innocently,

"I'm not hiding."

"Fine! Then where are you?"

"I'm in the parking-lot, waiting for you at your car." With that she hung up the phone.

When he reached his car Hotch was somehow surprised to see Elle really leaning against it, a smile on her lips.

"I'm sorry for the confusion." She stated while he was unlocking the car.

After they had both gotten into the car she added,

"Really, I mean, I realized that considering how determined you are to bring me home I'd save myself a lot of trouble if I just surrender."

"That's certainly true." Hotch agreed as he drove out of the parking-lot.

_At Elle's place:_

When they had reached their destination Elle let out a sigh as she realized that Hotch had followed her to the front-door of the apartment-building.

Seeing her questioning glance he explained,

"Well, I know you good enough to not believe that you're gonna get some rest just because I brought you home."

"You're probably right..." Elle admitted as she opened the door of her apartment and let them in. Closing the door behind them she added,

"Feel free to make yourself at home."

Hotch noticed the sarcasm in her voice and wasn't that surprised, after all, he knew by now that Elle didn't like it when someone tried to make her slow down, or well when _**he**_tried it to be more precise. He wasn't sure whether it was because he was her boss or if there was a completely different reason, all he knew was that she snapped whenever he told her he was worried about her, so he had eventually given it up, though he couldn't help but worry nonetheless.

He let out a sigh as he watched Elle leave the room and decided to simply take a seat on the couch, knowing that she would just get mad if he followed her.

As she returned to the living-room, carrying a coffee-pot and two empty mugs he suggested,

"You should better get some rest instead of drinking coffee."

"First of all I'm not tired, and furthermore even though you might be able to keep me from working you sure as hell can't tell me when to sleep!"

"Alright Elle, calm down..."

After she had put the items in her hands down onto the coffee-table she took a seat next to him, though it was obvious that she wasn't feeling quite comfortable with him being in her apartment.

A moment later Hotch took the chance to take a closer look at his surroundings. It was obvious that Elle had an exquisite taste, every piece of furniture seemed to have been chosen with a good deal of consideration, everything was just perfectly fitting her personality. Something else he noticed was that absolutely nothing seemed to be out of place.

Meanwhile Elle got lost in her thoughts. She couldn't help but notice that she was totally on edge. It wasn't like she wasn't spending time with her colleagues after hours, in fact she was spending a lot of evenings with Morgan or sometimes JJ. Hotch however had never visited her, well, she of course knew that it had been him who had removed the blood from her former place, but he had never been in her new apartment.

On the other hand Hotch was her boss, he had a family and most of all she knew that he was a very private person. But it wasn't the fact that Hotch had never been at her place before, or the fact that he was her boss that made her feel uncomfortable, it was the way he looked at their surroundings. He had that very same expression on his face which she had seen so many times at crime scenes and during interrogations...

"Are you profiling me now?" Elle demanded to know, her voice a little harsher than she had intended.

Hotch turned to look at her, surprised by the anger in her voice. After a moment of silence he let his shoulders hang and replied, a slightly pained expression on his face,

"I thought we were passed that..." He paused and Elle bit her lower lip as she noticed the flash of hurt that appeared for a second in his eyes,

"And no, I was just taking a look at my surroundings."

But Elle barely heard what he was saying as her thoughts drifted off to that day when she had been about to quit and he had stopped her...

_**Flashback:**_

_"Now I think I'm actually gonna miss that." As she turned to leave Elle couldn't help but realize that this was so much harder than she had thought. _

_She didn't even want to go, but she felt like she had no other choice - Hotch, and probably all her colleagues would always keep wondering if it had really been self-defense and she won't be able to handle that. After all, it was one thing that she knew that the self-defense story wasn't true, but it would drive her insane if her colleagues knew._

_Her thoughts were racing by the moment she stepped out of Hotch's office, not having a single clue what to do now considering that all she had ever wanted to do was being an FBI agent..._

_"Elle!" _

_She froze as she heard his voice yet she didn't turn around. God, she had been determined to walk out of this building as soon as she had handed her badge and ID over to Hotch, and leave all of this behind._

_Elle heard his soft footfall and knew that he was now standing right behind her, but she felt still torn whether to turn around again or just leave as if she hadn't heard him. Though she knew that it was actually already too late to pretend she chose nonetheless the latter option. She was just incapable of facing him for another time._

_However, as she made a step toward the stairs she felt her resolve crumble, feeling his intense gaze on her. She knew that he was waiting, expecting her to turn around, but she forced herself to start walking again._

_Though it only took a second or two before she stopped again as she felt one of his hands getting a hold of her left wrist, the feeling of the warmth of his hand on her wrist was so intense - even through the layer of clothing covering her arm, that it was sending a shiver down her spine. He was merely holding her arm, but that soft contact was all it took to make the last remains of her will-power vanish into thin air._

_After a felt eternity he let go of her and Elle turned toward him. It wasn't until then that she got aware of the fact that their bodies were just separated by merely an inch, his proximity already enough to send waves of sparks rushing through her all over again, setting her entire being on fire..._

_Suddenly Hotch stepped back apparently realizing just how close he was standing to her as well. _

_Elle couldn't help but draw in a deep breath, not sure about how to deal with the sudden loss of his warmth._

_Hotch looked at her for a moment, his eyes showing a level of uncertainty she had never seen displayed in them ever before, then he cleared his throat and signalled her to follow him back into his office. _

_After he had closed the door and had returned to his seat he spoke finally up,_

_"When I asked what we should do about this situation I wasn't asking you to leave, you know?"_

_She just gave him a questioning look, not sure what sort of reply he was expecting from her._

_"Though I can of course understand why you want to leave, I doubt that it would be the right thing to do for you." He paused, apparently searching for a way to find the right words,_

_"You might be relieved about not needing to deal with all the UnSubs anymore, yet there will probably come a day when you start regretting that you just left instead of facing the actual problem, but then it will be too late to turn back..."_

_Elle was still unable to form a reply. Her mind was working in overdrive as she kept trying to comprehend the situation. Suddenly getting very self-conscious she started wondering if Hotch had noticed anything. _

_She couldn't remember to ever have felt like this around any man she had come across - especially not around Hotch. And he had just merely held her to keep her from leaving... At that thought she couldn't help but get even more lost in her thoughts._

_God, if already his proximity, a short touch of him with no other intention than keeping her in the office was all it took to make her feel like that, what would be if he touched her just a little longer? If he let his fingertips brush in a soft caress over her bare skin? Or if he kissed her?_

_Elle shook absentmindedly her head trying to get those thoughts out of her head. After all, Hotch was her boss - or had been, she wasn't sure about that anymore - and even more importantly he had a family._

_"Elle?" Hotch's voice brought her back to reality and she looked back up into his face._

_"Sorry, what were you saying?" _

_For a moment he seemed concerned, but then he simply explained,_

_"Well, I suggested that you stay with the BAU and talk with Doctor Sullivan." He looked carefully at her and seeing her opening her mouth to protest he hurried to add,_

_"I'm not saying that you have to talk with her for the rest of your life - however, I simply need that psych evaluation. When it's done we can talk about that again, okay? After all, it might help you to talk with someone..."_

_It took a while before Elle spoke up, but when she finally did her voice sounded completely indifferent._

_"Fine... Maybe you're actually right with what you're saying."_

_**End flashback**_

Elle had been lying awake for quite a while before finally falling asleep that night and even then it hadn't taken long before she had woken up again. She had been covered in sweat and had been unable to get back to sleep, too overwhelmed by the memory of the day and even more her dream.

As she looked at his concerned face now she couldn't help but wonder why the hell she had been thinking about _**that**_ all of a sudden. Not only had it been almost a year ago, but she had successfully blocked out every thought about it pretty much ever since the following day. In fact she had gotten over it, or at least she liked telling herself that.

She certainly could imagine what the shrink would have said if she had told her about that day. Elle was sure that the shrink would have told her that it was actually quite common that people who've been through a very traumatic situation were reading more into a relationship, feelings and such at times to deal with the trauma - or something along those lines.

Deciding to get this entire topic out of her head again she reached for her cup and let out a soft sigh as she noticed that it was empty just like the coffee-pot.

"You're okay?"

"Yeah." Elle forced a small smile on her lips and got up to head for the kitchen and make more coffee.

It was slightly upsetting her that Hotch was able to see through her like that so easily. Sometimes she couldn't help but feel like those dark eyes were able to see straight to the bottom of her heart and soul.

When she turned around he was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, his arms crossed in front of him just looking at her with such an intensity that made her shiver. It surprised her somehow that he was only observing her instead of saying something.

After a while the silence became way too much for Elle so she asked just above a whisper,

"You've got something on your mind, or why are you just staring at me now for minutes?"

"I was thinking about earlier..." Hotch replied absentmindedly.

Hearing that Elle couldn't help but sigh, she just couldn't understand what Hotch's problem was, she was doing okay yet he treated her like she had almost died.

"I'm alright." She stated, an annoyed expression on her face.

"Really?" He looked her straight into her eyes,

"Because I'm not - this guy could have killed you..."

"But he hasn't!" Elle wasn't sure why she was so mad but she knew that she didn't want to hear stuff like that.

Hotch lifted his hands in surrender and gave her an apologetic look.

"So, are you hungry?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, a bit..." Elle admitted.

"You want me to order something?" Elle just shrugged indifferently so he added,

"How about Mexican?"

"I don't care." She replied annoyed and turned to leave the kitchen.

Hotch let out a sigh, wondering what Elle was up to but decided to simply wait for her to return instead of asking her.

As Elle entered her bedroom she smiled for a moment. Finally she was alone - at least for some time. For a moment she just stood in the middle of the room thinking about what she should do now. Deciding to change first of all into something more comfortable she went to her closet and took a thoughtful look at her clothes. After a few minutes of thinking she chose a pink cami and grey sweat-shorts.

On her way back to the living-room she took a glance into the full-length mirror, that stood in her room, and couldn't help but smile satisfied.

After he had ordered some food from a Mexican restaurant Hotch's thoughts drifted off to what had happened earlier that day...

_**Flashback:**_

_It had been supposed to be just an ordinary questioning, really no big deal - but of course things had to get completely out of control... After all, that was the problem with junkies - there was no way of telling how they were going to react under certain circumstances, especially when they were on something._

_But the current situation was not even close to what Hotch had considered a possible scenario. Sure it had been not all too surprising that this guy wasn't happy about the FBI showing up at his home, nor that he wanted to escape, but what he hadn't expected was that Emilio Sanchez would pull out a knife and threaten them._

_So they had both drawn their guns which had made Sanchez just freak out that much more. In the matter of seconds he had stepped closer to Elle and was now fighting with her for her gun. Normally he would just shoot the guy, but unfortunately Sanchez and Elle were moving so much that the risk to injure Elle was just too high, and therefore all he was able to do was hope and wait._

_After a few minutes Sanchez won the fight, only a second or two later he grabbed Elle and pressed the barrel of her gun against her temple. _

_"Drop that gun - or she's dead!" Sanchez yelled._

_He didn't need to think twice, the expression on Elle's face was already enough for him to lift his right hand in surrender while crouching down, lying his gun onto the ground, his eyes never leaving Elle's._

_"Listen, we just came to ta-" He tried._

_"Shut the fuck up!" Sanchez interrupted him and fired a shot into the ceiling to emphasize his point._

_While he was still wondering what to do Sanchez pushed Elle away and ran to the front-door of his house, while Elle lost her balance and fell, hitting her head hard on the coffee-table._

_**End flashback**_

Hotch let out a sigh. He could only hope that they would find Sanchez considering that he had still Elle's gun, not to mention that he had hurt her. Sure he could have run after Sanchez and could have tried to catch him, but Elle had been injured so he had decided to stay and call an ambulance instead of following the guy.

Actually it hadn't been the fact that Sanchez had threatened to shoot Elle that had made him surrender - it had been the panic in her eyes. He hadn't seen her that terrified ever since short after she had been shot.

Which was also one of the reasons why he had decided to bring Elle home and stay with her for a while.

A moment later Hotch was interrupted in his thoughts as he heard someone chuckle. He looked up and was surprised to see Elle standing just a few feet away. But what surprised him even more was the fact that she had changed clothes.

It didn't take him long to realize that he was staring at her as he noticed how her grin widened, so he hurried to focus his attention on something else.

Taking a glance at his watch he told her,

"Well, our food should arrive any moment."

Elle nodded, still grinning, before taking a seat on the couch again and asking,

"Any news on the case - or Sanchez?"

"Not yet."

"Why are you still here?"

"Because I'm worried about you." He was slightly aware of the fact that he was staring at her again, but he just couldn't tear his eyes away from her for more than a few seconds.

Just as Elle opened her mouth the door-bell rang, saving him from whatever she was about to say. Hotch took his time to open the door, to pay the food and even more to return to the living-room.

After he had put the food down on the coffee-table he took a seat on the armchair standing opposite the couch instead of sitting back down next to Elle.

"What? You aren't afraid that I could bite you, are you?" Elle asked and gave him a mischievous smile.

"Not at all, but considering that you seemed quite upset about me being here in the first place..."

Hearing that Elle started chuckling and wanted to know,

"Seriously, for how much longer do you wanna stay? I mean, isn't Haley probably already waiting for ya?"

"No, I called her earlier and told her it would get late."

_Around 11 pm:_

Hotch was on the best way to fall asleep when his cell phone started ringing. After taking a quick glance at Elle's sleeping form he got up to answer the call without her waking up.

"What's up, JJ?"

"Well, I just called to let you know that the MPD found Sanchez... Good news are that he didn't kill anyone, bad news are that he wanted to shoot one of the cops that tried to arrest him, the cop shot back and Sanchez died almost immediately."

"How about the case?"

"We think we caught the guy, however, we're still waiting for some lab results and Morgan is still interrogating him." JJ paused for a moment,

"How's Elle?"

"Pretty good I guess, she sleeps."

A moment later they hung up and when he turned around he saw Elle standing in the door-way.

"They caught the UnSub?"

"Seems that way... How did you sleep?"

"Great." Elle replied, leaving it up to Hotch to decide whether this response refered to the UnSub being caught or to the question how she slept. A moment later she inquired,

"Will you leave now?"

"Yeah."

Elle smiled relieved, turned around, and walked away. On the way to her bedroom she told him,

"You know where the door is..."

Hotch couldn't help but smile for a moment, shaking slightly his head, before he got his stuff and left.

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:**__ Thanks for reading! The next two already finished chapters will be reposted soon as well. I'm still stuck on the new chapters, so I'm not sure when I will be able to post the final chapters... Anyways, feedback would be very much appreciated! :)_


	2. Just a little teasing

_**A/N:**__ The second reposted chapter!_

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**Never Underestimate Elle Greenaway**

_2. Just a little teasing_

While they were on their way to San Fransisco to work on their new case Hotch was simply incapable to focus on the file in front of him. Instead he kept watching Elle, who sat across from him, looking out of the window next to her.

He noticed the soft smile on her lips, the small frown on her forehead showing that she was deep in thought about something. If she was aware of him watching her she was clearly not willing to let it show.

As he kept observing her, not missing even the tiniest of her movements, he started to wonder probably for the hundredth time why of all professions Elle had chosen law-enforcement. With her looks and intellect she could be anything, yet she had chosen to work in a field which was still dominated by men, a fact even more true in regards to the BAU.

A sigh escaped his mouth as his thoughts drifted off to the past night which he had mainly spent lying awake, unable to stop thinking about her. There was simply something about Elle that got his head spinning, that got his heart and mind racing whenever she was around, though he wasn't quite sure what the reason was.

Well, she was surely driving him insane - well, in fact she was already doing that since she had joined the BAU, though he had gotten aware of it only recently. But he surely doubted that she had even the slightest idea of what she was actually doing to him, wearing those tight clothes everyday...

Hotch shook his head, he should really stop with thinking about those things and focus on the file he should be reading at the moment. A sigh escaped his mouth as he realized that he was simply incapable of tearing his eyes away from her.

After they had finally landed he took his time to get his stuff and leave the jet. Just as he turned to leave Elle stepped up to him, stopping barely a half inch away from him.

He could feel her warm breath on his skin, could smell the intoxicating scent of her and it took him all his strength and willpower not to lean in and kiss her. As he took a closer look at her face he couldn't help but worry, noticing that very same mischievous smile on her lips that he had seen the night before.

His worry grew even further when she leaned closer and whispered into his left ear,

"You know, you should better be careful... After all, I'm quite certain that the way you kept staring at me since we took off in Quantico is in some countries already considered as more than just inappropriate - not to mention that you're married and my boss..." Elle trailed off and looked once more straight into his eyes, before she grabbed her travel-bag and purse and left to join the rest of the team.

Hotch just stared blankly ahead for a while, completely startled. So she had indeed noticed him watching her. The question was what she was thinking... She didn't seem upset or annoyed by his behavior, in fact it was more like she was amused by it.

He frowned for a moment, wondering if she had also noticed what effect her presence had on him.

"Hey Hotch... You're coming?" JJ's voice interrupted his thoughts and he turned slowly around.

"You okay?" She asked, giving him a worried look.

"Yeah... I'm fine." He got his stuff and followed JJ outside.

When they had reached the rest of the team JJ gave him another concerned glance and wanted to know,

"Are you sure that everything's alright?"

Hotch only nodded and couldn't help but sigh when he noticed the grin on Elle's face. Once more he wondered what she was up to. But then again, maybe he was just getting a little paranoid when it came down to Elle...

_Later that day:_

As Hotch filled a cup with coffee a slight smile appeared on his face. He had managed to avoid Elle, or at least being alone with her, pretty much ever since they had arrived at the local Field Office. Yet he couldn't stop thinking about her and about what she had said to him...

Just as he turned around to leave a sigh escaped his mouth when Elle walked into the break-room, closing the door behind her.

"Here you are." She stated, walking up to him,

"I was already searching you for almost ten minutes..."

Hotch took a deep breath as she stopped only a few steps away from him and even though he could sense that he was going to regret it later he asked,

"What's the matter?"

They locked eyes for a moment.

"Well..." She paused, looking away as if she searched for words,

"Eh, I need to ask you for a favor..." Trailing off again she glanced back at his face.

He sighed, realizing that he had been right - no matter what that favor was, he could tell that he shouldn't have asked.

"What is it?"

Elle took a deep breath and stated,

"Would you mind giving me a massage?"

Hotch's jaw dropped and for a short moment he just stared totally puzzled at her, wondering if his ears had betrayed him.

"What?" He forced himself to finally ask.

"Well, you see, my shoulders are goddamn tense. I can barely focus on the files I'm supposed to look through." She paused, apparently thinking for a moment,

"Normally I would probably simply ask Morgan, but first of all he went with Reid to question that first victim, the one who survived the attack, and second I'm quite sure that he would tease me with this for weeks. JJ is busy with preparing the press-conference, so I can't ask her either. And Rossi, well, even if he won't have left to talk with the guy who found the latest victim, I won't ask him, because I barely know him and therefore it would be simply all kinds of weird and awkward if I asked him." Another pause, before she concluded,

"That leaves me with only two options - either asking you or keep suffering for the rest of the day..."

Hotch realized to his own surprise that her explanation sounded completely rational, which bothered him quite a lot, considering that the simple thought of being able to touch her was goddamn overwhelming.

"So...?" Elle gave him a questioning glance.

He sighed, a frown on his face, thinking for a little longer before he finally spoke up,

"Fine..."

A smile appeared on her face and she turned her back toward him.

Hotch sighed once more then he walked up to her, lifting his hands to her shoulders. After a short moment he started massaging her shoulders, and he could tell that she hadn't just made something up to torture him.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed when Elle made a step backwards, leaning into him and letting her head fall back against his chest. And as if that wasn't already enough to drive him completely crazy he heard her letting out a soft moan just a moment later.

He could only hope that nobody would walk into the room right now...

When Hotch noticed how Elle relaxed more and more he stopped and let his hands sink down.

As she turned toward him she smiled softly at him.

"Thanks." Elle paused for a moment,

"I guess, I owe you big time for this." She rested her right hand on his hip and leaned even closer, before she added just above a whisper,

"If there's anything I can do for ya - no matter what it is... Just let me know, OK?"

Hotch wasn't sure whether it was the way she said it or if it was the expression in her eyes, either way, it was unsettling him. A moment later she let her right hand sink. He drew in a sharp breath as he felt her hand brush against his groin just so slightly that it seemed like nothing but a coincidence.

After another second or two Elle turned around and headed wordlessly for the door. When she had reached it and lifted her hand to the door-knob she turned to look once more at him.

They locked eyes for a short while. Then she told him with the most innocent smile he had ever seen, her eyes wandering down his body,

"Well, I suggest you'll wait a little before leaving, considering how, eh, _**tense**_ you seem..." She grinned mischievously at him and left.

For a moment he was confused by what she had said, but it didn't take long 'til he realized the meaning behind her words.

_'Damn,' _he tought as he noticed how tight his pants had become.

If he won't know better he would think that this had been exactly Elle's intention when she had walked into the break-room. But he couldn't bring himself to believe that, after all, she couldn't have planned this, now could she?

_Meanwhile:_

As she closed the door behind her Elle's smile turned from a mischievous to an extremely satisfied one. This was actually way much more fun than she had first thought.

Reaching the conference-room she noticed that Morgan and Reid had returned. Elle put on a serious expression when she saw Morgan getting up.

"Are you heading in the direction of the break-room?" She asked innocently, while she wondered if it would be a little too devious of her to make Morgan go to the break-room right now.

"Yeah, why?" Morgan replied.

Coming to the conclusion that it wasn't she told him,

"Well, would you mind getting me some coffee?" Elle knew exactly that Morgan had always had a thing for her, and knowing exactly what buttons she had to push to make him do everything she wanted she gave him her most charming smile.

"Not at all." Morgan replied with a bit of a grin.

"Thank you."

As she watched him leave her smile even widened.

"What's the matter?" JJ asked as she walked into the room and noticed the smile on Elle's face.

"Eh, nothing..." Elle couldn't help but chuckle,

"Absolutely nothing." She added after a short moment of silence, her eyes sparkling with pure amusement.

After all, Hotch deserved a little punishment for getting on her nerves like he had done the past day. And it was just a little bit of teasing, right?

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:**__ Thanks for reading! As always feedback is very welcome. :)_


	3. A little further

_**A/N:**__ Here's the final of the reposted chapters. Enjoy reading!_

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**Never Underestimate Elle Greenaway**

_3. A little further_

Taking several deep breaths to calm his racing mind Hotch closed his eyes for a while. However, just a moment later his head jerked up as he heard the door open and he turned slightly to see who it was.

Seeing that it was Morgan he almost cursed and hoped that his colleague won't notice anything - even though he could see the other man already frown.

As Morgan walked toward his boss, who was standing in front of the counter, he couldn't help but wonder what was bothering Hotch, for he had gone totally pale and there was a slightly panicked expression on his face.

Reaching for a cup and the coffee-pot Morgan asked,

"Everything alright with ya?"

"Eh, yeah." Hotch said, after a moment.

"You're sure? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Morgan pointed out.

"I said I'm fine." Hotch forced over his lips and gave the younger man a look that made clear that he considered the conversation as being over.

Eventually Morgan shrugged, filled the cup in his hands with coffee and left.

Releasing a heavy sigh as he watched Morgan leave Hotch couldn't keep his suspicions from growing. Somehow he started to believe that Elle was up to something - that she was having fun on his expense.

_Meanwhile:_

Hearing Morgan return Elle smiled as she noticed the frown on his face.

Handing her the cup of coffee Morgan sat down next to her and wanted to know,

"Do you know what's wrong with Hotch?"

"No, why are ya asking?" Elle asked in response, smiling innocently and giving him a curious look.

"I'm not quite sure, but he seemed pretty much out of it..." Morgan said and shrugged.

At that Elle frowned and replied,

"Really? That doesn't really sound like Hotch..."

"Exactly my point." Morgan agreed, before they focused back on the case-files on the table.

However, a moment later Elle looked up as Hotch joined them in the conference-room. He seemed like nothing ever happened, but she hadn't expected anything else, after all, this was Hotch - he always acted like nothing was affecting him, he always kept his thoughts and emotions guarded...

At that thought she couldn't help but release a soft sigh as her mind was beginning to drift off to the fact that this whole attitude of him was starting to seriously piss her off. On the one hand she noticed how he watched her, how his eyes followed her every move, but on the other hand he acted all cold around her, like he didn't really give a damn about her at all.

When they had been in the break-room earlier she had seen how his eyes darkened with desire as she had invaded his personal space. And for a moment she had actually thought that she had succeeded in breaking his reluctance to show his emotions, that he would give in to what he apparently wanted so much...

But of course he hadn't done her that favor - and that was making her somehow totally angry. She wanted him to surrender, wanted him to give up his goddamn facade - and she knew that she won't give up on trying 'til she had driven him to his knees and he stopped treating her like this!

Taking a deep breath she reminded herself that she should focus on the case right now, that the continuation of her little game had to wait.

_At the hotel-bar, around 10:30 PM:_

After looking most of the day through case-files the team had agreed to head to some restaurant for dinner and have some drinks afterwards before getting some rest and getting refreshed for the following day.

It didn't take long before JJ started to play darts with some people - winning one game after another, Reid was playing a drinking-trivia-game with a few other guests at the bar, Hotch was talking with Rossi about their case and Elle and Morgan were dancing together.

Elle couldn't help but grin satisfied as she felt Hotch's eyes burning holes into her back. She could tell even without taking a single glance at him that he was goddamn jealous at Morgan. Furthermore it was fun to dance with Morgan, after all, most of the time he was in a great mood, always knowing how to have a good time and already being in the same room with Morgan was able to cheer her up.

However, the most pleasing thing about dancing with Morgan at the moment was indeed that she was making Hotch jealous with doing so.

When she and Morgan returned to their table after a while to catch their breaths Elle smiled cheerfully and sat down next to Hotch. Observing him in the corner of her eye she came to the conclusion that it was getting time for taking her little game a bit further.

Emptying her glass she asked,

"This round's on me so what can I get you guys?" With that she took a look at her colleagues and waited for them to tell her what they wanted to drink.

As she observed the waitress getting their drinks ready Elle reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a small pill-bottle. Unscrewing the lid and taking one of the capsules out of it she thought about the fact that she was about to violate not only her own ethical code but also the law considering that she had the intention to spike Hotch's drink. But then again, all she was gonna do was making sure that he would sleep like a stone this night.

After letting the rest of the sleeping-pills disappear in her jeans-pocket again, she opened the capsule and added some of the white powder to Hotch's beer - paying attention to not fill the entire content into the glass.

When she returned to their table she put the glasses down in front of her colleagues, before sitting down and taking a sip of her own drink.

_Later that night:_

As they all headed up to their rooms Elle observed carefully their boss. Seeing Hotch yawn she had to fight hard to keep a smile from appearing on her face.

Considering that the hotel was completely booked up they had all rooms on different floors - with one exception and that was her and Hotch, what made it even that much easier for her to put her plan for the night into action.

When the elevator stopped on their floor Elle took a deep breath and followed Hotch out of the elevator car. The walk to her room passed in perfect silence, however, as they were level with the door to her room she spoke eventually up, causing Hotch to stop as well.

"Listen Hotch, I'm sorry about earlier. I dunno what I was thinking." She gave him an apologetic look.

"Don't worry about it, Elle, really you don't have to be sorry." Hotch said in response, his words slightly slurred.

"But I am sorry... Anyways, you know I meant what I said in the break-room. If there's something I can do for you - no matter what is - just let me know, okay?" Elle stated and smiled at him, while stepping closer and adding just above a whisper, resting one of her hands on his shoulder and the other on his waist,

"After all, I seriously doubt that I would have made it through the rest of the day without your massage, so if there's something I can do to return the favor - just say the word. And I really mean _**anything**_..." With that she removed her hand from his waist and reached into her purse to get her key-card.

Stepping back and turning to open the door she smiled once more at him and said,

"Goodnight Hotch, see you tomorrow."

"Eh, yeah... Goodnight." He smiled weakly at her and tried to stifle a yawn as he watched her disappear in her room.

As he continued down the hall to his own room he frowned and let out an exhausted sigh. He couldn't help but wonder why the hell he was so tired, but then again he had barely slept the past night so it was probably not really surprising that he was damn tired now.

Opening the door he sighed once more. Maybe he would at least be able to get more sleep this night considering how tired he was.

_Around half-past midnight:_

Taking a look at her watch Elle couldn't help but grin in anticipation and got up from the comfortable armchair she had been sitting on since entering the room. Grabbing her purse from the bed she opened it and took the needed item out of it.

As she opened the cell phone her grin widened, thinking back to how easy it had been to take it from Hotch and she honestly doubted that he had even noticed that it was gone considering how tired he had been - thanks to that spiked beer.

Starting to write the first text message she felt for a moment the urge to take a look at the other stuff on the phone, but she forced herself to ignore the urge, after all, she had still a lot of important things to do.

After sending the text to her own cell phone she waited several seconds before she began typing the reply - determined to make sure that Hotch won't have any doubt that the text messages were real.

Eventually she took once more Hotch's cell phone in her hands and wrote a third message and sent it.

Another moment passed before she headed into the adjoining bathroom to get ready for the second phase of her plan. After changing clothes she took a glance at her reflection in the mirror over the sink.

For a few seconds she simply smiled then she refreshed quickly her make-up, before grabbing the bathrobe.

Returning to the main room she grabbed Hotch's cell phone from the table and let it disappear in one of the pockets of the bathrobe. Then she called room-service and ordered a little snack, though of course not because she was hungry - she only needed a way to get inside Hotch's room and considering that she hadn't been able to take the key for the door she had to settle for another option.

On her way out she put the key-card of her own room into the pocket of the bathrobe, put it on and grabbed the empty ice-bucket.

_A few minutes later:_

Approaching the woman the hotel had sent up to bring her her snack Elle put on an expression that ranged somewhere between embarrassment and contrition. When she had reached her she stated,

"Excuse me, I know you're obviously busy, but I left my key-card in my room when I left to get this damn ice and now I can't get back in..."

The woman turned to look at her and smiling softly she asked,

"Can't your boyfriend open for you?"

"Eh, I think he wanted to take a shower and to be honest I don't want him to tease me with this the rest of our vacation. After all, it's already embarrassing enough without him reminding me over and over again of it..."

After a moment of thinking the woman nodded in agreement and said,

"Just a moment." With that she knocked once more against the door of Elle's room and sighed when there came no reaction, eventually she added,

"Well, show me to your room and I'll open for you."

"Thank you so much." Elle spoke up once more as they stopped in front of Hotch's room and the woman had opened.

After closing the door Elle grinned for a moment, before taking a look around. For a few seconds her eyes stopped on Hotch, who was deep asleep, then she focused her attention on continuing with her plan.

Opening the minibar she took a bottle of champagne out and put it on ice, then she got two glasses and put them on the table as well. Pouring some of the champagne into one of the glasses she smiled happily, before filling the other glass and putting the bottle back on ice.

Lifting the second glass to her lips she pulled out Hotch's cell phone and placed it on the table. Setting the glass back down she looked around and grinned again when she caught sight of Hotch's clothes, which were resting on the second armchair.

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:**__ I know, this chapter isn't that good, but well... I hope you nonetheless like the story so far. As I mentioned in the Author's Notes of the first chapter, I'm still working on the new chapter, it's very slow going, so I dunno when it will be ready to be posted. In the meantime you could do me a great favor and review to let me know what you think about the story._


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